The Question
by robert3A-SN
Summary: Jeff struggles to rehearse asking Annie out on a date – but when Troy sees it, he mistakenly believes that he's planning to propose to her. Worse yet, he then tells Britta about it. Jeff/Annie, Britta/Troy.


"Annie, would you….no, no, that's not it. Annie, would you do me the honor of….no, that's too much, come on!"

Jeff once again rolled his eyes over the fact that he was even doing this. It was one unprecedented thing to decide to ask Annie out on a date. It was even more out of character to actually practice asking her. That was why he wasn't nailing this and couldn't figure out exactly how to ask her. Yes. That was it.

But Annie liked this stuff and Jeff knew he'd have to give her at least some of it, if he was really doing this. Somehow, someway, he was finally at a place where he wanted to do this, and give Annie everything she always wanted from him. That included asking her on a proper date and giving her proper romance, despite how that was out of his comfort zone. But so was Annie in general, and he still….really liked being around her.

So if he wanted to be around her on a date, which he finally did, all he had to do was ask her and do it right. It was just a matter of finding the right words, which was why he went outside after lunch to rehearse. Yet Jeff hadn't found those right words so far, as per usual when it involved Annie.

"Annie, please let me….no, too needy. Annie, if it's not too much trouble, would you….no, too wordy! Annie, can I please….come on, I told you not to be needy!"

Jeff groaned at his continued failure, then just thought of the next idea that came to his head. For some reason, this involved getting down on one knee and holding out his hand, as if he was holding Annie's. "Annie, will you….oh, what the hell, Winger?" Jeff groaned, getting up from his knee and trying hard to think of something less misleading.

However, Jeff was thinking so hard that he didn't notice Troy nearby. He was so consumed with trying to ask Annie out, he forgot Troy and Abed were taking their designated four-hour weekly break from each other on campus today. As such, Jeff didn't worry about Troy stumbling onto him while he was looking for non-Abed stuff to do.

He might have pictured Troy's eyes going wide while his jaw dropped, since he did that about twice a week for all kinds of reasons. Sadly, Jeff didn't picture Troy doing that because he saw him get down on one knee and rehearse asking Annie a question.

But Troy didn't bother Jeff after that, as he just walked backwards away from him while Jeff kept practicing. Troy continued to walk backwards across campus, with the same stunned look on his face, for the next 15 minutes. He was even able to do this in the main building, and got himself halfway down the halls until Britta noticed him.

"Whatcha doing?" Britta asked. "Planning to race backwards with Abed after your break is over?" she guessed, then cheered herself before even waiting for an answer. "Oh yeah, I pay attention to you and your routines with Abed! I'm a good….friend!" she settled for in lue of putting the word "girl" in front of "friend."

"Jeff's gonna marry Annie today!" Troy finally blurted out, stopping Britta's self-congratulations in their tracks. Before long, they were replaced by goofy laughter.

"What?" Britta only barely got out in between laughing. "Is Abed _that _desperate for movie ideas now?"

"It's not a movie! And Abed's not doing a wedding movie until after Christmas! You say you read his blog, but you really don't, do you?" Troy accused before getting back on track. "Jeff got down on one knee and practiced asking Annie to marry him, I saw it myself! And I know Abed wasn't filming it, cause he took his hidden cameras down from that area after the Fairy Dean incident! Seriously, what do you have against blogs?"

Britta shuddered at remembering the Dean's fairy costume and ignored the stuff about blogs. For once, warning how blogs play right into Big Brother's privacy sucking white male hands wasn't important right now. "What I'm against is your theory that you saw Jeff practice a _marriage_ proposal."

"He got down on one knee, asked 'Annie, will you' and then stopped cause he was getting it wrong! I know how people propose, Britta! I've seen Bride Wars! It was only the second worst wedding movie of 2009, _in spite _of Abed's case against 27 Dresses being the worst! So yeah, I know my stuff and I _still_ say Katherine Heigl wore it worst, Abed!" Troy called out although Abed wasn't there.

"Okay….leaving that aside, Jeff hates marriage even more than me!" Britta reminded Troy. "He'd never do that just for Annie!"

"You want to go there? You want to go there about the things Jeff would never do for Annie, but did anyway? Because I don't want to spend 72 hours straight on that, Britta! I have a life, and I gotta take breaks to sleep and poop _sometime_! It's all I got!" Troy pleaded.

"All right, fine, point taken _way _too graphically!" Britta insisted. "But getting _married_? Why the hell would Jeff do that when they haven't even gone on a date yet? He'd be skipping all the dates and romance and courting and couples stuff, and all that other relationship nonsense he hates…." At that recollection, Britta's eyes widened almost as badly as Troy's. "Oh my God, he's gonna propose to Annie."

"Hey wait, I said that first! Don't take credit, or Abed will shame you in that blog you never read, okay?" Troy warned.

"Forgot that pawn of the dictatorship for once! We've got to stop Jeff right now!" Britta declared.

"We do? You didn't rip that off from me, so who _are _you ripping it off from? It's the ghost of Starburns, isn't it? I _knew_ he was more of a Jeff/Shirley shipper!" Troy gasped.

"I'm ripping this off from common sense, doy! Jeff _can't_ marry Annie! He can't just skip to the end and not give Annie a proper relationship first! She's already lost out on a childhood, real parents and a real education! He can't rob her of all that lovey-dovey Hallmark relationship nonsense too! If she wants to be brainwashed like that, then Jeff should too, it's only fair! He can't skip out on that just to get right to the honeymoon sex!" Britta insisted.

"Wait, if Jeff's no good at relationship stuff, he might not even get to have honeymoon sex!" Troy realized.

"Exactly! He owes Annie an actual effort, no matter if it fails miserably and hilariously! After all this time, shouldn't Annie see him try miserably and hilariously to be in a couple? The chance to see that is what won _me_ over to Team Jeff/Annie, and he's going to take that all away now? Nice try, Winger!" Britta rambled.

"Hold on, wouldn't Jeff failing miserably and hilariously in a marriage be funnier? I mean, it wouldn't be if he cast Katherine Heigl as Annie's neurotic sister, but she's not _that _desperate for a hit yet! Hopefully," Troy feared.

"Marriage never works for anything, especially comedy! And it won't work here!" Britta exclaimed. "Just because Jeff's never been in love and he doesn't know what he's doing, it doesn't mean he can speed up turning Annie into a drone! She deserves a few precious years of freedom before she goes Steppinwolf! And as her big sis from another miss, I'm going to give it to her! And so are you after we stop Jeff together!"

"Hold up, Annie loves that wedding stuff! Why should she wait so long to get it again? Especially if it's with someone she loves who finally wants to be with her?" Troy spoke out, having one of his profound spells. As such, Britta tried another approach.

"You know that when they get engaged, Annie will want to move in with Jeff, right? She certainly won't stay with you guys after they get married! Hell, between that and whatever career she starts after graduation, you'll barely see her! Don't you want her living with you guys as long as possible?" Britta drove home.

"Don't you want to only pay a third of the rent for a while longer? Don't you want to make movies where you and Abed don't have to play all the women anymore? Once she marries him and moves out much faster, those happy days will be over!"

"But, but we were going to do a Black Widow/Catwoman crossover for our Christmas special! _I_ can't play Black Widow! I haven't had the right body type since spring, and I can't just drop all that weight off in time! I'm not a Silly Putty doll! I wish I was, but I'm not and it's not my fault!" Troy called out as Britta tried to get a few disturbing images out of her head.

But her original goal worked as Troy stated, "You're right, it's too soon. We've got to stop him." Yet suddenly, another thought/fear popped into him and made him stop Britta before she took off. "But just so I'm sure, this isn't because you still want Jeff, right?"

"What? Of course not, give me _some _power of self-respect here!" Britta insisted. However, this inspired her to ask, "But this isn't because you suddenly want Annie now, right? Now that you know for sure she's not still in love with you?"

"What? That only makes sense in two alternate timelines! Maybe three if Evil Annie has hot evil pjs!" Troy guaranteed. "But I don't want real Annie that way, that's too weird! I mean, she's girl Abed!" Britta had no idea what to say to that, so Troy clarified, "She's my best friend who's a girl. Um, not that it's by a wide margin!" he made himself backtrack.

Britta shook that off, as well as the horrendous images of Annie as a girl Abed. "All right then, let's go!" she commanded, yet Troy still wasn't moving.

"Wait, I proved this isn't because I want someone else. Don't you want to do the same?" Troy asked a little insecurely.

"Okay. Okay, okay, we got time. I got this," Britta assured, although her idea of "getting this" was a lot scarier than it was with other people. But before Troy could fear for how she would Britta him, Britta came up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him very convincingly on the lips for several seconds.

When she broke, Britta tried to give Troy a more cocky smile, yet felt too….funny to smile quite like that. For his part, Troy was smiling goofily, yet that wasn't anything out of the ordinary – so Britta told herself unconvincingly. Finally he said, "I don't know if I'm convinced yet…."

"Troy, don't be such a guy," Britta warned, although she didn't sound as harsh as usual when she said that. But she put that aside and offered, "Come on, let's go save those idiots who used to like us."

"Okay. Hey idiots!" Troy called out mindlessly before correcting himself. "I mean, hey…..intelligence impaired people! That's politically right, right?" Britta actually chuckled at his effort, then made herself focus as they headed off to save their friends from bridal hell.

They started outside where Jeff was rehearsing, yet he wasn't there. By the time they actually thought to look in the study room, Jeff was already there, letting Annie tutor him and waiting for the right moment to pop his real question.

"Annie, I didn't just ask you here for help on Advanced Baby Talk," Jeff started, before willing himself to speak like a baby. "But I know I'll at weast get a C-minus, yes I will! That's a Winger A-minus, yes it is!"

"Jeff, you should be good enough to get a regular B-plus by now! You're really not paying attention, are you?" Annie questioned.

"No! I mean yes, I mean…." Well, so much for embarrassing himself with baby talk before embarrassing himself by asking her out. Yet this was as ready as Jeff would probably get. If hearing Annie talk like a baby didn't bring his age difference issues back to life, there was no going back now.

"I am kind of distracted, but not because I'm tuning you out! I can't just tune you out anymore, and that's the whole problem. At least I thought it was a problem. But I don't want it to be anymore." Jeff inwardly cheered that it played out better than it did in rehearsal.

Annie looked confused, yet she was clearly listening. "How's that supposed to happen, Jeff?" she inquired. Well, there it was. Now it was crunch time.

"Annie, I really came here because I wanted to ask you something." Jeff thought of taking Annie's hand, but that might distract him too much. Best to ask now and take her hand as a soft and petite reward. "And that is….if you want, would-"

"NO!"

Jeff had feared hearing that answer all day. However, Annie didn't move her lips when that "No!" came out. Plus there were two voices saying that at once, and one sounded the tiniest bit male. Only the tiniest, but still.

And then Jeff got his answers – and wished he hadn't – when he turned and saw Britta and Troy all but tackle him out of his chair.

"Stay back!" Jeff saw Troy tell Annie while Britta was making some poor attempt to block his way. "All right, we're all clear!" Troy declared when a very confused Annie did step back.

After that, both Troy and Britta started talking and yelling at the same time. But they were so loud and they talked so rapidly, Jeff could only make out some of their words.

"She's not your property yet, Jeff, she deserves more time off the wife plantation!"

"Don't take her away, she just started making buttered noodles good!"

"You'll have to _earn _the right to make her your cattle first, pal!"

"You can't take away something when it got really good! What are you, NBC?"

"I am _not _planning this travesty, you can't make me!"

"NBC!"

Mercifully, Troy and Britta finally ran out of breath and paused, while Annie just looked slack jawed at the whole thing. Jeff probably looked no better, yet he was using this window to review what little he got out of this.

Britta was using words like "wife plantation" and "cattle" again. And she mostly used both those words together when….

And if they came in right as he was about to ask Annie his question, then….

"No." Jeff stated when he realized what they thought he was doing, then shook his head at their incompetence. "No. No, no, no, no, no no no no, no no no and….God no." To cap it off further, he got up and took hold of Troy and Britta by the arms. "Come on, we're going for a little walk out of here."

"Hey, you don't own a woman _yet_, Jeff!" Britta insisted, although Jeff was still able to lead them both out of the study room. Yet Britta called to Annie, "It's not too late, you still have time, Annie! Anarchy!"

"You don't know what that means!" Troy pointed out, but by then they were led out of the room and Jeff had closed the door. He then led them further away from Annie's view before finally stopping to talk.

"Okay, I have my theories about this, but share them with me first. That wasn't a request," Jeff made clear.

"Oh, practicing ordering women around already, Jeff? Well I'm not your wife, and neither is Annie yet, so that makes perfect!" Britta failed to bring home.

"Yep, there it is," Jeff confirmed. "Now for a rare guest appearance by reality in Britta and Troy land. I am _not_….proposing to her!" he capped off by whispering.

"Come on, I saw you get down on one knee outside and rehearse proposing to Annie! Bride Wars, Jeff!" Troy yelled for some reason.

"Oh, for the love of…..I was rehearsing _asking her out_, you Britta!" Jeff harshly whispered back.

"Hey, don't insult him like that! Wait," Britta paused before getting that she called her own name an insult too. To change the subject, she asked, "Hey, what do you mean you're just asking her out?"

"Exactly what I said. I was going over how to ask Annie on a date. But despite my practice, it's not like it's working out so well now, is it?" Jeff asked pointedly at them.

"Wait a minute! If that's all you were practicing, then why did you get down on one knee, Bride Wars style?" Troy wanted to know.

"Clearly, I've never rehearsed asking someone out on a date before. That's because I've never cared enough about a woman to ask her on a real, proper date before. So with that, the obvious answer is that I don't know what I'm doing," Jeff filled him in before he knew what he was doing and saying.

Yet Troy and Britta did nod understandingly, with Troy saying "Oh, now _that_ makes more sense," so at least Jeff was off the hook on that misunderstanding.

Of course, Britta chose that point to go back and ask, "Hang on, so if you're _not _proposing, you're….just trying to make Annie go out with you?"

"Ask is more accurate, but other than that, you just nailed it," Jeff fake congratulated.

"And this isn't a plan just to finally sleep with her before we graduate? You just….want to date her? _Just _to date her? Without sex as a precondition?" Britta nearly incredulously asked.

"Desired goal eventually, but not the main point of it," Jeff stated. "And since you stopped me, you don't get to hear the Winger speech about how I'm less scared of Annie now, how you shouldn't be jealous because you have Troy, and how I don't want to just screw around with her like we did with each other. Shame. Would have been a doozy, though."

"Britta, for shame!" Troy got swept up into saying, as if he didn't start this in the first place. She merely shook her head and decided to yell at him later. First, Britta just had to double check one last time and make sure she wasn't still hearing the wrong things.

"Jeff, you're_ really _serious? You don't want to break her heart, or wreck her by marrying her either? You just…want to _be with _her?" Britta asked awkwardly, still in disbelief that she was asking Jeff Winger that kind of question.

"If she'll have me. Assuming she ever gets to hear me out," Jeff added in. Britta was stuck in silence and taking this all in. On the other end, Troy was already tearing up, which was far less surprising.

"Okay, you and Annie just got awesome again!" he announced. Just as suddenly, he lit up and declared, "Hey, this means you and Annie can double date with me and Britta! Abed can film it for one of his November sweeps slots, its perfect!"

And with that, Britta now spoke up in panic. "No! No, no, no, no, no no no no, and no! That's too weird and too soon, so no no _no_!"

Jeff knew that this was both their fault, and probably Troy's more than Britta – as improbable as that was. But out of habit, he went towards needling Britta more to wrap this up, despite his own uneasiness at Troy's idea. "Well, that sounds quite promising indeed. Troy, why don't you take her away and start working that out on your end?"

"No! You don't want that either, don't suffer just to punish me, Winger!" Britta called out as Troy led her away. "I've seen enough of your googly eyes at school, don't ruin my after school time, too! That's my good mellowing out time! Anarchy!"

"You don't know what that means!" Jeff snarked teasingly. However, making Britta squirm only distracted him for a second, before he had to go back and salvage the rest of this disaster.

Fortunately, Annie had stayed in the study room and hadn't overheard any of this. What's more, it didn't sound like she understood what Britta and Troy said earlier, so that was another break. "What the _hell _were they doing, Jeff? Did they give you at least _one _barely good enough excuse?" Annie wondered.

"Well, you know Troy and Britta, so what do you think?" Jeff tried to wisecrack. Yet he did know that wouldn't clear up anything for Annie – especially what Jeff was trying to ask her before they barged in. It would probably take the entire proposed dinner to….

Suddenly Jeff had it. The icebreaker he needed to get him to what he really wanted to ask. The last one was ruined, but this one could just barely get it done.

"From what I got, though, it was a real Troy and Britta doozy. We probably don't have enough time in here to go through it all. But maybe I can find more room to explain it over dinner."

"What could be that….hold on, go back _one _minute again?" Annie asked when it fully registered what Jeff asked her at the end. Yet now that he had gotten it out there without flinching or getting nervous, Jeff could lay out the rest.

"I mean if I could take you out to dinner, I'd have more room to explain the whole thing, and on a full stomach. And if we have spare time, we can talk about lots of other things. And do lots of other things. Like everything you wanted when you imagined going on a date with me before. Since I can admit it's what I want too….will you go out with me and let me make all that finally happen, like I finally want? When we're not laughing about how dopey Troy and Britta were this time, I mean?"

Jeff thought he stumbled a bit in a few places, but it was the best he could do for a first time. Still, Annie had on her "trying not to put on a Disney face although I really want to" face, so that was a promising sign.

"I don't know….I mean, I really _shouldn't _know, and maybe I've outgrown the need to…._know._ But….then I'll never know if I could really…._know _the right way, or if you can too….if you don't already."

Annie then paused and made Jeff's stomach drop even further – yet it mercifully lifted up a bit when she finished, "Well, I do need to know what Troy and Britta were thinking. If dinner's the best way to get it out of you….and if you have other ways to entertain me after the story….I could at least hear you out."

"Yes, good answer! And trust me, it'll definitely live up to the hype!" Jeff declared, briefly forgetting if he was talking about the story or the date.

As it turned out, the rest was easy after that, as Jeff and Annie worked out when and where the date would be, and then engaged in their usual chatter following that. It was certainly a better outcome than most of the ones Jeff imagined much of the afternoon. But in those outcomes, Troy and Britta didn't stumble around to make it worse, before accidentally making it easier for Jeff.

Maybe it made sense, since Jeff and Annie had to let their infatuations with Britta and Troy run their course before they found each other. And before Britta and Troy found each other as well, apparently. Perhaps it was only fitting that they played one final, indirect part in making this more lasting infatuation – hopefully – take the next step as well.

Nevertheless, when Jeff next needed to pop a question to Annie 3 ½ years later, he made sure Troy and Britta were 50 miles away at all times.


End file.
